Malcolm Turnbull didn’t actually trade his first-born this week but it felt like it might come to that. In a whatever-it-takes frame of mind, the government conceded a great deal to get its legislation…

The Murray-Darling is a complex freshwater ecosystem.
Murray River wetlands image from www.shutterstock.com29 novembre 2016

Water isn't straightforward. And by putting the Nationals in charge of policy for water assets like the Murray-Darling Basin, the government will trigger a complex round of bureaucratic musical chairs.

Soil and water are crucial resources that need to be carefully studied and preserved.
Pete Hill/Flickr13 juillet 2015

The Outback covers 70% of Australia, and its water is precious and scarce. Yet there is no joined-up plan to monitor and manage Outback water, despite the wealth of species and communities that depend on it.

The Onkaparinga River, part of the catchment that supplies around half of Adelaide’s drinking water.
Justin Ratcliff/Flickr18 février 2015

Imagine a future where the yearly flow into one of the largest water reservoirs of a major Australian city could halve within 70 years. This is a scenario that Adelaide could face if the world continues…

On Wednesday, Queensland’s parliament passed water reform legislation that will make it easier to take and use water, particularly for large mining and agriculture projects. The state government also recently…

Australia’s north is home to many pristine rivers, but most national parks are focused on land-based conservation.
Carole Mackinney/Wikimedia Commons17 novembre 2014

Freshwater ecosystems such as rivers, lakes and wetlands are precious. They contain several-times more vertebrate species per unit area than land and ocean environments, and they are more degraded. Protected…